Counting, helping homeless living within Anderson County

Friday

Dec 20, 2013 at 4:38 PM

When the Tennessee Valley Coalition to End Homelessness did its “point in time count” in Anderson County a year ago, volunteers found that 86 people were homeless (sheltered and unsheltered), and another 68 people were “precariously housed.”

Beverly Majors/The Oak Ridger

When the Tennessee Valley Coalition to End Homelessness did its “point in time count” in Anderson County a year ago, volunteers found that 86 people were homeless (sheltered and unsheltered), and another 68 people were “precariously housed.”

And, for the majority of the homeless in Anderson County, there are no shelters.

Recently, members of the community met with representatives from the Trinity Out-Reach Center of Hope (TORCH) and Ridgeview mental health center in a forum setting to discuss ways to help the homeless in Anderson County and to see what services are available when help is needed.

The forum was held at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

The forum addressed contributing factors to homelessness, an exploration of potential solutions, how to begin a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness and ways that people can be involved in the upcoming “Point In Time Count.”

The PIT count will be on Jan. 28, 2014, and volunteers are needed, said Zabrina Minor, executive director of TORCH.

She said volunteers must go through a training session before helping with the count.

A point-in-time count is an unduplicated count on a single night of the people in a specific county who are experiencing homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered. The count is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

During the recent forum, discussion groups talked about

emergency needs for the homeless, representatives answered questions, and the groups discussed two fictitious case scenarios. Those cases involved a single mother with three children and a family of five who were victims of a fire.

Both cases had similar emergency needs, such as housing, food and transportation. The single mother became precariously homeless and later literally homeless while her children stayed with family. The fire family became literally homeless and without resources.

Assisting the groups in their discussions were Minor, as well as Alicia Widner, housing specialist for Ridgeview’s NOVUS (latin for ‘new beginnings’) program that works with chronically homeless individuals, and Tammy Lynn, housing facilitator for Ridgeview.

ORUUC minister Jake Morrill gave a brief view of a program called Family Promise, which helps put families in safe places, and helps with job training and transportation.

“We’re trying to see if we have enough interest in Oak Ridge to pull it off,” he said.

Minor said volunteers who would like to participate in the point-in-time count should call TORCH at (865) 318-4788. Training sessions are set for 6 p.m. Jan. 16 and 10 a.m. Jan. 23.